Water Avens

People sometimes ask what my favourite flower is, and I always struggle to think, particularly as my favourite tends to change with the seasons. But in late spring Water Avens Geum rivale must be up there in the top ten. It's elegant in all stages, from the early neat cylindrical flowers to the blowsy ones later in May. It then goes on to form silky seed-heads, that glisten in the sun. The deep wine-red of the calyx tones perfectly with the soft apricot of the flower, which gently blushes with age.

There was plenty of Wood Avens in Morkery Wood, where I had an amble on a perfect May morning, while Ben was slaving away at his Physics AS level. I definitely had a better time than him - having done lots of successful mock papers for the old AS level, the new format didn't suit him and the lack of any previous papers meant that he hadn't had a chance to practice doing the rather more wordy and convoluted questions.  Still, I'm sure he's not the only one that found it a bit tough, and fortunately he's fairly philosophical about it!